OUR VIEW

Attack on Cayetano lacks perspective

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 21, 2012

The money that pours into our political process has always been slippery stuff, consequential because of the government influence it can buy but increasingly difficult to track. The current murky flap over the Ben Cayetano campaign reveals little of the full truth.
The Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 turned the funding stream into a flood. But setting that aside, Hawaii's government has attempted to oversee at least the cash that comes directly to the candidate committee, limiting the amounts any one donor can give. The most indulgent assessment is that the state has allotted too few resources to its regulatory duty; the most cynical one is that those in control of government have no interest in doing so.

The money that pours into our political process has always been slippery stuff, consequential because of the government influence it can buy but increasingly difficult to track. The current murky flap over the Ben Cayetano campaign reveals little of the full truth.

The Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 turned the funding stream into a flood. But setting that aside, Hawaii's government has attempted to oversee at least the cash that comes directly to the candidate committee, limiting the amounts any one donor can give. The most indulgent assessment is that the state has allotted too few resources to its regulatory duty; the most cynical one is that those in control of government have no interest in doing so. Login for more...